Niche Fragrances, Including Angelina Jolie's Scent, Get the Spotlight at the Elements Showcase

With so many celebrities rolling out fragrances and so many millions of consumers buying them, it's easy to forget that creating a scent is actually an art form. It takes talent, skill, and inventiveness.
I was reminded of this fact earlier this week at Elements Showcase where an impressive collection of niche fragrance brands came together to present their diverse products. The bi-annual showcase that first premiered last January, is the vision of Jeff Lawson, owner of an events consultancy, Ulrich Lang, a former L'Oreal exec, and Frederick Bouchardy, founder of Joya, a creative collective specializing in fragrance.
The goal of the event was to connect fragrance designers with the media and buyers from top distributors like Barney's and Henri Bendel, while at the same time, highlighting the artistry and craftsmanship of the exhibitors' products.

With so many celebrities rolling out fragrances and so many millions of consumers buying them, it's easy to forget that creating a scent is actually an art form. It takes talent, skill, and inventiveness.

I was reminded of this fact earlier this week at Elements Showcase where an impressive collection of niche fragrance brands came together to present their diverse products. The bi-annual showcase that first premiered last January, is the vision of Jeff Lawson, owner of an events consultancy, Ulrich Lang, a former L'Oreal exec, and Frederick Bouchardy, founder of Joya, a creative collective specializing in fragrance.

The goal of the event was to connect fragrance designers with the media and buyers from top distributors like Barney's and Henri Bendel, while at the same time, highlighting the artistry and craftsmanship of the exhibitors' products.
At the event, held in midtown's Skylight Studios, Bouchardy and Lawson were excited to inform me that due to the success of the first Showcase, they were able to double the size, and feature twice the exhibitors this time around. The impressive lineup included Bond No. 9, C.O. Bigelow, Juliette Has A Gun, Odin, and Robert Piguet.

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I must admit, upon walking into the Showcase, I was unsure how exactly one defines a "niche fragrance." My perfume knowledge is limited to the womens fragrance wall at Sephora. My signature scent is Chloé Eau de Parfum--the same as I imagine thousands of other girls in New York City alone. I learned that niche fragrances differ from the mainstream brands because of their select distribution and unique and innovative scents.

Traveling around to the different booths was an enlightening and an overall great smelling experience. One of the most intriguing products I sampled was Histoire de Parfums' 1969. I was told that it's Angelina Jolie's favorite perfume. After taking a whiff, it was clear as to why. The fragrance features notes of chocolate, coffee, and musk. Somehow all of the notes work together to create an intense, yet intoxifying scent that only someone as bad ass as Jolie can pull off.

Juliette Has A Gun's (created by Romano Ricci, the great-grandson of Nina Ricci) offerings also stood out. One of the brand's products, Not a Perfume, comes to life on the skin--literally. The scent can barely be detected on paper. Skin triggers the scent to grow in intensity. This effect is achieved by the product's sole ingredient--Cetalox.

Bond No. 9 was one of the few exhibitors that I had heard of before so I had to stop by and see what's next for the brand. I Love New York by Bond No. 9 is their latest collection of 15 different scents that will launch in series beginning this September. The line, like the I Love New York t-shirts, will feature easy to wear scents and will even be offered at a lower than usual price point. As always, the bottles, which come in hot pink, black, and an electric blue with the I Love NY logo emblazoned across the front are ones that you'll want to display even when the fragrance runs out.

Not only am I now excited to expand my fragrance horizons and find a new, unique, signature scent, but I also can't wait to see what Elements has in store for next time. I do know that they've partnered with the Fragrance Foundation to create the new "Indie" FiFi Award, a category that brands are able to enter themselves. The first ever winner of the award will be announced at the next showcase in January 2012, so stay tuned!

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In this age of globalization, corporate conglomerates, and big box stores, there’s something very comforting about finding a product that no one else has. You can get small-batch olive oil. There’s an entire cult on Twitter that is in search of unusual teas. And finding a new local fashion designer often feels like a delicious secret when everyone around you is wearing something from the mall.
So with everyone looking for a way to express individuality in a world that is becoming increasingly commercial, niche perfumes are the perfect antidote to conformity.
I’m a lazy fragrance user. I own and have used quite a few in my day, but never very regularly. Days will go by when deodorant and toothpaste are my signature scents. This is really sort of unacceptable.
Enter Marian Bendeth. Marian, a fragrance expert and consultant who has worked with over a thousand brands, is based in Toronto, Ontario. She writes about scent, teaches about it, argues about it, collects it, and lives for it. She only wears vintage fragrances, but wouldn’t reveal them to me. I could have talked to her for hours about finding my signature--niche--perfume, but here’s the short version.

For those of us obsessed with signature scents, our ultimate fragrance should be one that few others possess. While I adore Marc Jacobs (the original), I'd prefer to wear something on a daily basis that's a bit more unique to me.
A long-time contender has been Histoires de Parfums 1969, but after a visit to Avery London's outpost in New York's new Limelight Marketplace, I've got a slew of new options.
Avery, which opened in central London in May, is the first retail store from Intertrade Europe, a company that deals in niche perfumes, as well as slightly bigger brands like Miller Harris and Bond No. 9. I'd heard of some of the scents previously--particularly the Nasomatto series, distinguished by its carved wood toppers--but I had smelled only a few.
So last week I popped by Limelight to get an idea of what Avery has on offer.

In case you had any doubts that fragrance is a huge category for designers, put them to rest. WWD is chock full of news about new and reformulated designer fragrances today.
CK One Shock: Calvin Klein created the now-classic ck one in the 90s, when at the time it was revolutionary to do a unisex fragrance. Now, of course, tons of designers are releasing fragrances that can go either way. In a move that seemingly defies everything that ck one stands for, Calvin Klein is releasing separate ck one fragrances for men and women. Called Shock, and printed with neon graffiti-like lettering on the bottles, they’re meant to appeal to a younger demographic, 18-24 year-olds. The original is currently a staple with the 35 to 45 year-old set, proving that people really don’t change their fragrances all that frequently. Steven Meisel shot the ads under Fabien Baron's creative direction. They’ll feature hip young things Lara Stone, Alice Dellal, Ian Mellencamp, Ruby Aldridge, Sky Ferreira, and others. It launches at the end of July and the collection will retail from $14 to $65.

This fall marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. There are all sorts of events planned in Dallas, and there will undoubtedly be tons of coverage memorializing the tragic event. You can watch these things on TV and cry, or...you can honor JFK by wearing the same fragrance he did.
The story behind Kennedy's favorite fragrance is fascinating--and the scent has just been re-released for the first time in 60 years.